TNPL 2021 Gokulakrishnan Madanagopal

A First in TN Cricket

Elder Brother Match Referee, Younger Brother On field Umpire 

Former South Zone cricketer brothers to come together for the first time in this role of Referee-Umpire

For the first time in the English season last year, Stuart Broad took the field with his father and English cricketer from the 1980s as the Match Referee. Stuart was in a fiery and combative mood in the 2nd test after having been ‘rested/dropped’ for the first test. He had made an aggressive statement in the media after being left out of the first test in line with English Selectors’ rotation policy.  Given the Covid Situation, only English umpires officiated in the 2020 English summer and the match referee too was an Englishman for the first time in a home series after neutral umpires and referees came into play. There was tension all around and one wondered as to how Stuart would react in the next test after coming back into the playing XI. All eyes were also on the match referee, his father. It was in this context that Stuart Broad was asked as to how he expected his father match referee to react if Stuart became over aggressive on the field. Stuart’s reaction (more in jest) that day was “My dad (match referee) would not be on this year’s Christmas card list if any action was directed against me”. It had been hoped same period last year that Stuart would not do anything untoward on the field to put his father Chris in an embarrassing situation.

In the TNPL that starts on Monday (July 19), elder brother and former South Zone all rounder J Gokulakrishnan will referee his younger brother and former South Zone middle order bat J Madanagopal, now a top BCCI umpire, who will officiate on field end of this month at Chepauk.

Throughout a majority of their playing career, the two of them did not play together for the same league team in the first division with Gokulakrishnan settling down at India Cements very early on in his career, while Madanagopal played for multiple teams through the 1990s before moving to India Cements almost a decade after his first division debut. Even at the state level, the two did not play many matches together with the elder brother having made his debut many years prior to Madan and then having moved on to Goa.  

Madan takes to Umpiring, Gokul on to State Coaching

In the first decade of this century, after their retirement, each took to their own ways. While Madanagopal took to Umpiring, Gokulakrishnan went the coaching way being the longest serving coach of the period as he was with the TN team for five years. He also coached at the age group level for five years.  Madanagopal has been a BCCI umpire for 15years now. After his coaching stint with the State, Gokulakrishnan moved on the role of a BCCI Match Referee following a suggestion made by former hat rick man of TN cricket, B Kalyanasundaram, a  Match Referee himself.

Brothers as coaches win TNPL in their debut season together

Finally after decades, the two came together in the TNPL in 2016 as coaches of franchise cricket. In their first year together, the two fashioned a tournament victory in the TNPL. Just under three decades earlier, in their first year in cricket, the two had played together in the TNCA league with the team achieving promotion in the fifth division.

And now, end of this month, the two will be together at a cricket match again albeit in different roles with the elder brother overseeing the action of the younger on the field!!! The concept of match referee and third umpire is recent having taken off at all levels in the last two decades. While the two may have dreamt of playing together for the State or coaching a team together, it is unlikely that either of them would have visualized a day of one monitoring and overseeing the action of the other in a cricket match. Just like on field umpires, the role of a match referee is to ensure smooth conduct of the match. It will have to be Gokulakrishnan taking the lead and communicating his thoughts ahead of the match to his umpire brother Madanagopal. Also, it will be his duty and responsibility to present his formal feedback on his brother at the end of the match.

For almost their entire career, the two brothers have been completely professional and understated. Very rarely have they been in the limelight for they have allowed their action on the field to talk for themselves. This one though will be interesting – Madanagopal on the field umpiring a TNPL match and elder brother Gokulakrishnan watching his every move from inside the match referee box atop the terrace at Chepauk.

With both of them actively pursuing this as a career, Madan as an umpire and Gokul as a match referee, this TNPL contest later this month could be the beginning of many years of the two brothers being part of a cricket match.

Best Wishes to the two of them. This section will track the developments of the brothers working in sync in a cricket match with the common goal of conducting the match well.